Slipmat

I'll get my coat...

The starting XI have bagged 11 league goals between them all season. Only East and Cameron have scored more than once. Upwards and onwards.

Todays line-up has "Queen of the South Nil" written all over it

Looks like McGrory may be out for this one. Nditi is available but it would be harsh dropping O'Connor or East after 3 clean sheets in a row. Rae Johnston / O'Connor / East / Cooper Gibson / Gordon / Todd / Fitzpatrick Paton / Cameron would do me. Fitzpatrick and Gibson are pretty much interchangeable on the right or left in that line-up, but I feel Cooper offers more defensive protection behind Fitzy than Johnston. Hopefully we'll see McKechnie at some point in the game. If Debayo and Joseph are kept as far away from the pitch as possible for the full 90 mins we could get a decent result tomorrow

Did they lock Ally Roy in the dressing room at half-time? I certainly haven't noticed him on the pitch.

Fook!!!

This game just gets in the way of more important business, but it could be a good chance to give Nditi, McKechnie and Cooper - and dare I say it Chima?! - some game time to help bring them up to full match fitness. Is Cameron eligible for this one or is he still unable to play due to the conditions of his loan deal? If he's out, and Connelly is unfit, it will be interesting to see who Wullie plays up top. While I want to see us win, the result isn't of the greatest importance in the grand scheme of things and the main priority for me is not to have us pick up any further injuries.

Thoughts? In terms of colour I like the sky blue the best, unfortunately there seems to be a lot of unnecessary background doodling going on meaning it's in danger of going all early 1990s paint splatter look. In fact four of the five options seem to have too much background noise for my liking. For that reason alone I'd plump for the plain yellow shirt on the top right. It also has to be said that the "gold" top is just a runny brown jobby horrorshow.

Whilst it wasn't a spectacle of silky skills today, it was a well deserved win and the glimmer of hope remains. Everyone battled and stood up to the late Ayr pressure to a man. It may sound simple, but I think the improvement under Wullie can be put down to three things in particular: - Playing players in their best positions. No messing about with central defenders in central midfield or central midfielders out wide, for example, just build a system around the players we have rather than try and fit them into the manager's preferred system. - Going out with the intention to attack the opposition and play the game in their half rather than having 9 outfield players behind the ball and hoping that there is an opportunity to break from defence and score. Attack is the best form of defence! - Playing to our own strengths ahead of concentrating on how to stop the opposition playing to theirs. Gibson has faith in our abilities, whereas Johnston seemed so obsessed with stopping the opponents from winning that he never set up to give them problems back. Today I was very impressed with Paton, Gibson, Rae, Todd and East. O'Connor continues to improve. Cameron though continues to frustrate me. As a central striker he spends too much time in wide areas leaving a gap in the middle, his shooting is a bit scattergun and while he wins a lot of flick-ons they rarely find a teammate. Moves tend to break down and end once he is involved. That said, he is far better than Roy.

...and McGrory, hopefully.

And I missed it! A possible once in a lifetime chance to catch a glimpse of the man... gone! I just knew I should have made the effort to arrive earlier than 2.55pm!

"Udoka Chima - Udoka continues to build up his fitness as he trains with the team. Unfortunately illness prevents him from playing with the Reserves this week." Every time there is a tantalising suggestion that Chima actually exists something seems to happen which prolongs his invisibility. You have to wait 7 years before a missing person can be declared dead, but I'm sure the courts are already beginning to prepare the paperwork for "The Missing Chima Case" in 2028.

Big difference today was that the team went out and applied pressure on the opposition rather than sitting back soaking it up for much of the game. There was a definite new manager bounce, the players seemed to be playing with more energy and confidence and looked like they were playing for the manager. Weak finishing let us down but at least we created chances and made the opposition defence work for a change. There is a glimmer of hope. By the way, Arbroath fans, I saw Bakare play a couple of times down south for Southport a few years ago and he was dung. I hope for your sakes he has only been signed as a benchfiller to be used as a last resort.

A pleasing half from a QOS point of view, aside from the Connelly injury. Looks like Gibson has shaken some of the AJ over-defensiveness out of the team. Still the same problem of the midfield sitting back a bit when the ball is played up to Cameron but when we break we look good. Couldn't see the penalty claim properly because of the sun Arbroath have been strangely off colour, maybe down to having important players missing. The CF is no Nouble.

No Cooper, which I guess means Todd or Fitzpatrick at left wing back?

Very direct questions yes, but questions that shareholders would legitimately ask of any business they have invested in. The reply rightly states the directors opinion as to their reading of why those questions were submitted and why they may not wish to answer them in a public forum, and it is understandable why they may not wish to divulge figures. However a simple yes/no response to questions 13 or 14 would have put the issue to bed. Instead, the failure to answer and deflective second sentence of the board's reply suggests that there is something they don't want to tell people. The abrupt, touchy tone of response certainly doesn't help and gives the impression that a nerve has been pressed. Hopefully the person(s) who posed the questions have been given satisfactory answers privately.

He could be an outside bet if the board are serious about promoting more of a local identity. If that is indeed the case I wonder if Paddy Flannery is worth a shout? He did a cracking job albeit at a much lower level with Mid Annandale and as far as I am aware still lives in the area. I think he has a good job outside the game though which he'd probably be reluctant to jack in to go full-time.

The positive to take from Gibson being an (interim) internal appointment is he should already be fully aware of each individual players strengths and weaknesses and have ideas about what selection, formation and approach should bring the best out of the team as a whole. Unlike Johnston. Although I still fully expect us to lose to Arbroath, I'm looking forward to attending in person again. I haven't had the inclination to pay £18 to watch the predictable dross served up under AJ for a few months and have relied on the streaming service for my Saturday depression session. Now that the clown car has left the car park I'm keen to see what changes Willie makes. Does anyone know why Connelly and Nditi were missing yesterday? Hopefully they are both back on Saturday.

Aye. That c**t.

I'm late getting to the party, but

I may be mistaken but I don't think Nditi is, and given his recent treatment I'd be surprised if he didn't try to negotiate a mutual consent type of release if he is on a 2 year deal. I've no doubt another club would snap him up if he was a free agent. Cowie is here too, but probably won't get a chance to play unless there is a keeper emergency.

The defenders weren't too bad today in all honesty. The problem was the midfield. When we weren't bypassing the midfield completely by launching an endless array of hopeful punts forward the midfielders were parked a few yards in front of the back four, and when we did get the ball into the Morton half nobody aside from Todd seemed willing to chase forward. The ten minute spell after the goal where we looked on top and had them rattled was notable for the number of players we had in the opponent's half who were available for a pass or to press in comparison to the rest of the match . Unfortunately AJ must have decided a better policy was to get as many players back behind the ball as possible and timewaste our way through the remainder of the game, which allowed Morton to regain the initiative when a goal behind.

We have a pharmacist board member who seems incapable of prescribing a remedy for gutache

Your club recognised the shite that was causing the blockage, flushed it out of the system and is back in working order while our board has a phobia of laxatives and is stumbling on and putting up with a turd which can't be dislodged.

Seven points off 8th place now.